According to the International Federation of Phonographic Industry, Kazaa has contributed to a significant amount of "damage" in the music industry. IFPI chairman and CEO John Kennedy said "these are very substantial damages being paid -- in excess of $100 million -- and Kazaa will go legal immediately. They've had time to prepare for this." Representatives for the MPAA also said that Kazaa will be implementing technology that will prevent users from transferring copyrighted material over the network.

The original developers of Kazaa, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis sold Kazaa to Sharman Networks in 2002. Since then, Sharman had been dealing with the MPAA and the RIAA over the legality of Kazaa users transferring copyrighted material. Neither Zennstrom nor Friis was available for comment.